FDA Breaks New Ground With First Approved Gene Therapy for Cancer

Hello Followers! Sorry I haven’t posted for a while. I have been on a Sabbatical of sorts as I transition between jobs.

Here is some groundbreaking news – the FDA has approved its first ever genetic therapy. In this case it is a therapy that targets a specific type of blood cancer.

The therapy works my modifying a person’s own T-cells (the ‘soldiers’ of our immune system). A modified (benign) version of the AIDS virus is used to deliver specific DNA into the T-Cells. This DNA produces a specifically-engineered protein that allows the T-Cells to attack this specific form of cancer.

The treatment has risks and potential side effects, however is extremely promising with more than 80% of trial patients going into remission (i.e. the cancer is gone or undetectable).

It’s amazing that we now have the ability to re-engineer our bodies like this, and it’s a huge step forward for this kind of treatment to become officially approved. It heralds a new age of personalised gene-based therapies.